Randi with an i

My favorite Trader Joe’s products

April 22, 2019 Randi

Hi. I’m a 20-something living in a major metropolitan area so obviously I spend a good chunk of my time and money every month at Trader Joe’s.

I do the bulk of my grocery shopping at both Aldi and Mariano’s, but it’s impossible to resist the pull of everyone’s favorite tropical-themed grocery store.

There will come a day when I do not commute home past a Trader Joe’s and thinking of that day torments my heart.

And my stomach.

Anyway. There was a period earlier this year where I was so busy between yoga teacher training, freelancing, working and volunteering that I barely had time to eat, let alone cook.

Enter: Trader Joe’s.

¡Estoy aprendiendo español! + Recursos para estudiar (I’m learning Spanish! + Resources for studying)

April 15, 2019 Randi

¡Hola mis lectores! Tengo buenas noticias. ¡Yo estoy aprendiendo español! …¡De nuevo!

(Hello my readers! I have good news. I am learning Spanish! …Again!)

Why I love (and prefer!) to travel alone

April 9, 2019 Randi

This might sound a little dramatic, but I can remember the exact moment I decided I was never traveling with people again.

It was a crisp fall day in Germany, and I was sitting at Berlin Schoenefeld Airport, propped up on my backpack in a state of exhaustion. I was waiting for a budget airline to carry me through my layover in Iceland and back home to Chicago after a long-weekend birthday trip I’d booked in a dramatic flurry after a really bad breakup.

…Yeah, like I said, dramatic.

OK, so that’s not entirely true. I have had some pretty awesome experiences traveling with people! BUT, after taking a few solo trips now, I’m convinced traveling alone is the best way to travel.

What I carry (almost) every day in Chicago

April 3, 2019 Randi

So, when a wide-eyed and somewhat-naive me first moved to Chicago roughly four years ago, I made a little list of my “city living essentials.”

Now that I’m almost half a decade in to my city living tenure (wheeerreee did the time go?!), I figured I’d give a quick update. Some of this list has changed, some of it hasn’t.

Here’s the junk you can find on my person a good 90 percent of the time I’m out and about in Chicago.

Life lately

March 31, 2019 Randi

Hi hey hello! It’s me, here with your quarterly roundup of everything going on in my uneventful life.

Quinn XCII’s ‘From Tour With Love’ in Chicago

March 23, 2019 Randi

Helloooooo I am back with my very last concert post for the foreseeable future.

You’re glad and I’m glad and we’re gonna get my amateur musings out of the way now.

So, Quinn XCII last Wednesday at The Riviera Theatre!

Live at Chicago’s Subterranean: Nightly

March 22, 2019 Randi

Soooo my dumb self decided in January that it’d be TOTALLY FINE to go to a show on the other side of town on a Tuesday night knowing damn well I had to work at 6 a.m. the next morning.

Anyway. I saw Nightly at Subterranean over in Wicker Park this past week and if you haven’t heard of them, you should definitely give them a listen.

Why I’m glad I got fired from my college waitressing job

March 18, 2019 Randi

This past weekend, something kinda weird happened.

The bar I used to work at in college followed me on Instagram.

I did a double-take and then immediately started laughing. I screenshotted the notification and posted it to Twitter with the caption “…you guys fired me in 2011.”

Cause, yep! I was fired from that bar my senior year of college. It was the one and only time I ever got fired from a job, and it ended up being one of the better things to ever happen to me.

Live at Metro: VHS Collection + The WLDLFE

March 16, 2019 Randi

I am baaackkkk with more blurry iPhone photos and a “concert review” written by somebody with no formal education in music journalism.

Yaaayyy! Aren’t you glad you’re following me?

*Watches subscriptions plummet*

This past Thursday, I ventured down to Metro to catch The WLDLFE and VHS Collection.

So, I’m a yoga instructor now!

March 13, 2019 Randi

Hi! So, talking about posts that are way overdue.

I’m a yoga instructor now! With a real permanent class on a real weekly schedule at a real paying studio!